Instructor and student fell to the ground

EAGLESWOOD – After their parachute collapsed, an instructor and student fell to the ground in a skydiving accident while jumping with Skydive East Coast at Eagles Nest Airport.

Instructor Jonei Hernandes, 46, of Williamstown, and student Kaitlyn Teixeira, 24, of Waretown, fell from "several feet above the ground" and were seriously injured about noon Monday, according to State Police Trooper Lawrence Peele.

George Voishnis, co-owner of Skydive East Coast, said the tandem couple had an uneventful skydive, but dropped from the sky in about the last 30 feet before their landing at their usual landing field.

“There was some wind turbulence, we don’t understand exactly what happened, it looks like it was a very odd circumstance, nothing we could see, and they hit the ground very hard," he said.

Both people were flown to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, according to Peele. State police and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the incident.

Voishnis wasn't at the scene at the time of the fall, but got a phone call and promptly went there.

He said wind conditions were within their limits for jumping.

“We don’t jump after 23 knots of wind, and we were down in the 12 to 19 range," he said.

Voishnis described the Hernandes as a "well-trained" and "excellent" skydiver, who has 12 to 15 years of experience and has worked with the company for about two years. He said Teixeira came by herself to jump for fun.

He said Skydive East Coast has been in business about four years and there hasn't been an injury like this in the past, and incidents like this are "extremely rare."

"It’s like basically driving down the road and having a sinkhole open in front of your car," he said.

He said they're working to understand what happened with Monday's jump.

“Our biggest concern is just for the student's and the instructor’s welfare right now," Voishnis said.